The King Blues - I Got Love

Test your powers of observation...........

Not quite what I would call an optical illusion but worth a look to see how good you are at finding things in complex surroundings....similar to the skill of finding a bittern in a reedbed!!!!!

Clannad 'I Will Find You' ~ The Last of the Mohicans

This is a great film with a typically robust performance from Daniel Day-Lewis and a superb soundtrack....can't believe it's almost twenty years old now.......

I don't care how good the food is....I'm not eating there....

This place reminds me of the restaurant where we had a meal in South Harrow which claimed to have 'a full vagitarian menu........'

College Lake | Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust

College Lake | Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust

A superb compilation of video clips showing chicks at this time of year.....amazing photography.....

Nesting goldcrests......

These birds really are tiny, weighing not much more than a penny. They love conifers, feeding mainly on aphids and are far more common in gardens than many people realise.

The best disallowed 'goal' ever..............?

The earlybirder at SKOOL......

Good old stereotype image of what boys who are interested in nature are like...from the Molesworth series of books

Black swan..........

Continuing the theme of exotic species gaining a foothold in the UK, I filmed these black swans with cygnets on a small, fairly remote lake in Cornwall. I read in the news at the weekend that peacocks were now breeding ferally in a wood in Northamptonshire...it is fascinating to see how some species, relocated through human intervention, find conditions to their liking so far from their original home.

Egyptian geese with goslings

So many baby birds about over the weekend. I used to have to go to Norfolk to see this non-native species ten years ago but they are an increasingly common sight breeding around ponds in suitable parkland. This particular family were filmed at Kew Gardens in west London.

The Wendover Parrot.......

For the last couple of mornings this bird has been in the garden calling.....loudly.....it appears to be a female King Parrot from Australia...obviously an escapee but, contrary to what most people think, more than capable of looking after itself in the wild and coping with low temperatures.

An oldie but a goldie......Frank Worthington goal for Bolton

This guy was one of the best players to pull on a Leeds shirt....this was one he scored for Bolton........

A good reason not to kiss birds on the beak.........

We have wrens nesting in the garden - the nest site itself is very clean. This morning I watched an adult bird flying off with a 'faecal sac' which it deposited somewhere else (I have actually seen some birds eat it.....). As the young are fed it stimulates them to poop (technical term)....a load of droppings building up around a nest could attract predators or encourage diseases so it makes good parenting sense. This video is a Carolina Wren and not the European species I get in the garden but it illustrates the point well.......

A little bit of bull.......

Sitting having my breakfast this morning I looked out of the window to see a male bullfinch feeding on a dandelion 'clock' in the middle of the lawn. They are incredibly beautiful birds and we have been lucky to have them as visitors to the garden over many years. They make a soft peeping contact call which, once you know it, gives away their presence. For all their showy colour, they are very shy and retreat to cover very quickly if they think they have been spotted.......

A bird in the hand........

Yesterday I got the call from a colleague that there was a bird in distress in the lower playground and so I rushed down there to find a racing pigeon looking very forlorn and tired on the ground. It was so exhausted it was not difficult to catch and I could tell as soon as I picked it up from its prominent breast bone that it was very thin. It is now recovering in the staffroom garden away from predators and children, with a bowl of water and some budgie seed. It will no doubt soon recover its strength and either resume its journey or join a local flock of feral pigeons. Vermin....? This bird is beautiful, clean and carries the fantastic markings of its wild rock dove ancestors......

Baby wrens now in the garden.......

The garden is full of baby birds at the moment....and the sound of adults scolding any predator that comes near. It seems that the weather may just get it right for once, with warm temperatures this week coinciding with the departure of many youngsters from the nest. This fledgling wren is uttering the contact call which lets its parents know where it is and, true to form, they only make brief appearances before disappearing back within thick cover.....

Vinny!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.sabotagetimes.com/football-sport/vinnie-jones-recalls-his-time-at-leeds-united-if-you%E2%80%99re-umming-and-aah-ing-about-coming-to-elland-road-you-can-f-off-%E2%80%99/

Oh...and there's another surprise.......

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9277371/HS2-chiefs-link-to-firm-in-8m-deal.html

Now there's a surprise.......

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9277440/Treasury-delays-put-HS2-plan-in-jeopardy.html

Football is so like life......

Sometimes you can spend your life trying so hard to achieve something...promotion at work, conception, happiness - whatever it may be - and not be successful. And then, when you least expect it........how much money has Abramovich spent, to no avail, on managers/players with the ultimate goal of winning the Champions League. Admittedly he has come close but few would have expected that a 'stand-in' manager with a group of players, many of whom are in the twilight of their careers, could do it. I am not a Chelsea fan..... but I am very happy for my friends who are. For Bayern Munich it seemed all set up for a dream final in their own stadium...surely fate. Again, life is not like that.When everything seems to fit nicely into place...And as for Tottenham.....sometimes your life is in the hands - actions and decisions - of others and you can do nothing about it. A season ruined by the 'certainty' of Harry getting the England job. Chelsea really did do things the hard way....sacking managers, sendings-off, suspensions, conceding penalties....but my goodness, they fought hard and to their strengths and deserve huge respect regardless of one's own loyalties......well done Chelsea!

Hotel Rwanda....powerful film

So many discussion points raised by this film....students certainly find it provokes strong emotions.

Donna Summer - I Feel Love (Live)

RIP Donna

Grasshopper Warbler

Having just finished parents' evening I decided to pop along to Wilstone reservoir near Tring on the way home as, for once, it was not raining. Parking up, it was the smell that first hit me - a lovely, heavy scent of hawthorn blossom. Following the track towards the reservoir I became aware of a faint reeling reminiscent of a coasting bicycle and there, in full view at the top of a clump of cow parsley, was a grasshopper warbler, just like the one in the video. You can stand for hours trying to catch a glimpse of this scarce, skulking species, so I stood and took in its strange song for as long as I could.

Robinson Crusoe Episode 1 Part 1of 3 inc intro Original 1964

Just a nostalgic reminder of Summer holiday television in the early 1970s......another great theme tune....

The best theme tune of all time........

I Am King Henry - Wives of Henry VIII (Full Version)

Get a hobby.......

Spent a fantastic morning at College lake near Tring watching a hobby feeding over the main lake. The viewing experience is particularly good because from the first hide you look down on the water (an old flooded quarry) and the birds hunt almost oblivious to your presence, hawking mainly for dragonflies. They are indeed beautiful birds with scimitar-like wings and incredible agility in the air....it is so fantastic to see these migrant falcons return each year.....

Dad.......

It's not often I get emotional over an advert for a car but my goodness....this got the old eyes watering up.......

How to get through an Ofsted inspection..........

Ofsted are coming.....at my signal....

Ofsted "Intelligence"

This makes being locked in the toilet seem tame......why me?????!!!!!!!

So...arrived at the big car park in central Aylesbury having just collected Grandma from the train station and ready for a relaxing coffee and read of the paper. The rain had started to fall after a bright start...but who cares? It's a Bank Holiday and time to RELAX. I went to get a car park ticket while Grandma and Lottie disappeared inside. As I stood at the ticket machine, I noticed the car a couple of spaces down reversing ....which was a bit odd because it would have been easier just to drive out. And then I noticed something even more odd. There was nobody in the thing. I ran behind it and pushed against the boot and just brought it to a standstill...emphasis on just. So there I was holding this car from going down the hill and ploughing in to the other parked vehicles, looking like I was Gollum trying to do an impression of Aylesbury's strongest man. Each time I relaxed it started to roll back. I called for help but the only person who came over was a pregnant woman who offered to get someone from McDonalds.....'make it Big Mac' I said, thinking as I said it that this was actually no time for humour, but saying it anyway. I shouted at people parking their cars behind it to move them....and just got bemused 'look-at-that-weird-shouting-bald-bloke-pushing-a car-uphill' looks back. One bloke did come over to have a look to see what the fuss was and then walked away laughing....cheers buddy. I 'll remember his face....constipated budgie comes to mind. The hand brake appeared to be on but the car was locked.
Eventually I slowly relaxed my grip again and all seemed well....the car was still. I ran in to the Odeon and asked them to call the police and as I  did so I watched with horror as the car rolled back again....... and parked itself perfectly in a space, still on a slope. Still nobody in it. BIZARRE!!!!!! Now suspecting some sort of prank, I waited for the police to arrive...watching from the window of Costa...... and then the owner arrived and got in. I ran and waved frantically and stood in front of the car . After the initial shock of being confronted by a gesticulating bald man she wound down her window and I told her what had happened. Looking shocked but laughing, she said that when she arrived back she couldn't understand why her car was not where she had left it but that my story explained all. She thanked me and gave me her card and said I deserved a reward.......'get in touch'......
Although holding a car back did not seem funny at the time you do have to look on the funny side of things....to be honest, the bewildered expressions on the faces of the people in Costa made it all worthwhile.....

Sara Smile - Hall & Oates

Peregrines nesting on the Aylesbury Vale Council Tower in Aylesbury....live feed...FANTASTIC

I saw my first peregrine in 1980 off the coast of Devon.....it was then a rare bird. In recent times they have used our high-rise buildings as substitute cliffs and taken advantage of the plentiful supply of pigeons so that now they are as much an urban bird as anything else. Indeed, they can be seen regularly on the Tate Modern in the heart of London. Enjoy the youtube videos and the live link below and well done to Mike Wallen and the guys who have set this all up.
http://www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/leisure-culture/biodiversity-wildlife-conservation/peregrine-falcons-nesting/

Blondie - Call me (HD) 1980

Thinking back to 1980....my goodness me....Debby Harry took our minds more than momentarily away from football....saw her twice: Hamersmith Odeon 1980 and again in 1990. Those cheek bones....

The Goal That Never Was - Coventry v C Palace 1980

I remember this so well...they showed it more clearly on Match of the Day.The free kick flew past the keeper and hit the stanchion - a word that was new to our boyhood vocabulary - before bouncing out. Poor old Clive Allen who was a great player at QPR and again at Spurs but had a torrid time at Crystal Palace. Just shows goal line controversy is nothing new...I remember thinking the Coventry kit was really cool. Oh to be fifteen again.....

Big Miracle - Trailer

1989/90 Season: Leeds United 4 - 3 Hull City...who said Vinnie couldn't play...?

Great goal fromVinnie Jones...and can you spot football 'pundits' Chris Kamara and Jim Beglin in the United team along with a 'youthful' Gordon Strachan......

Heard a cuckoo this morning........such an amazing sound and so evocative of Spring!!!

http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking

This is an amazing project...apparently two have returned out of the five tagged.....a ten thousand mile round trip to and from their wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa.

Disastrous weather for wildlife.........

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17966324This cold and wet weather seems depressingly unrelenting...the wettest April on record....but it really has been a disaster for wildlife, particularly birds, for whom timing is everything. Their arrival, incubation of eggs and rearing of young is all aimed at coinciding with fresh tannin free foliage and abundant insects. Even if the young birds are fed sufficiently to fledge, the cold and damp will kill them. I have found several drenched blue tits and blackbirds that have succumbed in this way. It is indeed colder now than it was at Christmas......there is time for most species to have a second brood but if this weather continues it will be a disaster.......

Planes, Trains & Automobiles Medley.....watch this film!

John Candy in his funniest role as Del Griffith.....a film I can watch again and again.......his premature death was a huge loss......

Joggers, snoggers, doggers ......and bloggers.

I went along to one of my favourite haunts the night before last....Wilstone reservoir. The sky was a menacing grey and the terns and hirundines were feeding in swirling , loose groups low over the surface of the water. It is an atmospheric place at all times and despite the terrible weather it once again had a lovely feel to it. Hearing a cuckoo calling from beyond the reedbed was a reassuring reminder that even though it feels like November, Summer is surely around the corner. I visit Wilstone when I can - early morning is my favourite time - but rarely in the evenings. It is a public site and I have no problem with the runners who impressively complete laps of the place or the assortment of dogs that look longingly at my telescope tripod as a potential location for a territorial pee. But this time the car park at the bottom of the steps that lead down from the reservoir had become the location for some sort of 'meet up'...if that's not an inappropriate expression.....with at least six cars containing couples in various states of entanglement. As I made my way past the cars trying to look anywhere but their direction, I noticed a woman sitting on the bank. As I got nearer I could hear that she was sobbing. Really sobbing. I stood for a while a little distance from her and scanned the reservoir as I always do, but in the end I had to ask her if she was ok...which I did. She just stopped, looked at me and said 'I'm fine'.....which clearly she was not. She tried a half-hearted smile before starting to cry again and within a minute or so she got up and walked back to her (empty) car and drove away. Now whether the frolics in the car park had anything to do with her unhappiness I do not know. Could I have done anything more..I don't know...I just wanted to let her know I was concerned. But it was a sad little cameo on a bizarre night at the reservoir that clearly takes on a different character on Spring and Summer evenings.........